The present invention relates generally to pressure sensing, and in particular to pressure sensing via the electrostatic effects of fluid flow through a porous dielectric diaphragm.
Accurate, reliable pressure measurements are important to many industries, including not only fluid processing but also related applications in health care, agriculture, transportation, construction, and other areas. Precision pressure sensors are also critical to basic scientific research, whether in micro-fluidics and other flow processes or the broader fields of chemistry, biology, engineering, and the material sciences.
Existing pressure sensing technologies range from traditional spring gauges to advanced micromechanical sensors, capacitive-type electrostatic pressure sensors, and semiconductor piezoresistive or piezoelectric sensors. These devices address a variety of specific applications in the industries described above. Nonetheless, there remains an ongoing need for reliable, cost-effective pressure sensors that exhibit beneficial scale sensitivity over a broad operational range. There remains a particular need, moreover, for techniques that are relatively insensitive to temperature extremes, vibrations, and other environmental effects, and relatively independent of stress, strain, and fatigue, and other mechanical limitations that characterize the prior art.